Camping Equipment Checklist

Camping can either be a real mess or a great deal of fun, depending on your attitude, your companions, the weather and how well prepared you are. We've put this camping equipment checklist together to help you plan for a two to five day trip.

Just found out that if one is camping in certain federal sites, one will be required to tote out one's toilet waste. We will be camping on the upper Missouri (Missouri Breaks, Montana) and were informed that this is being enforced this year. I know there are new bear deterrent food storage rules in the Apalachicola National Forest if one is camping there, but I'm not sure how widely it is enforced. We ordered some wag bags to handle personal waste for our Missouri river camping and will comment on it after we've used it. Our Koolatron has seen a lot of use this spring, another 4 night camp/paddle at Falling Waters State Park when daytime temps were in the low 90's and the food stayed cool. In fact, when night temps are low, veggies can get frost burned (40 degrees below ambient air).

quincypair on 4/2/2012 8:59am

Re first aid. If on medication one must take extra precaution and plan accordingly . Forinstance diuretics require more hydration. Dehydration salts or electrolyte packs should be included in your first aid kit. And while it looks like 1 gallon of water should be sufficient, if one is primitive camping, there is no potable water except what you bring or can filtrate. The amount one takes should be based on one's health needs or a good, relatively fast water filtration unit as back-up.

I would also add Tecnu, a poison ivy soap which is used over the exposed area before it starts to react and benadryl or similar solution for when it does. And Imodium or generic anti-diarrheal if the quick-camp food starts a war in your GI tract. Also a thermometer and a compact emergency blanket or bag. None of these takes any space (except the water).

quincypair on 4/2/2012 8:29am

We finally broke down and got a Koolatron, not a refrigerator, but a cooler which is supposed to keep your things about 40 degrees cooler than ambient air. We've camped with it for several sessions, the last being a 5 day camping trip. We never had to use the electricity in the state park camp sites, and now we do, to keep the cooler on. It works! We were able to get parmalat in the regular packaging rather than individual-sized milk cartons for our breakfast cereal, keep our veggie sticks and other items cool and crisp. It got to almost 90 degrees when we camped last at Rocky Bayou State Park, but everything remained cool. One caveat -- the cooler can also be used as a food heater, so make sure that you have the proper side up when you connect the lines-- one of us didn't do this and for the 2 hour drive to Rocky Bayou, the veggies were warmed, rather than cooled. This is really a car cooler which plugs into your lighter, but with a separate outdoor adapter can be used on the state park electrical stands. I drape a thermal picnic/emergency blanket/table cloth over it when we're through eating to add to the insulation, being careful not to cover the fan opening. We've had it for less than 1 year, so cannot speak to its consistent performance.

lynette422001 on 8/19/2009 2:08am

I really think that 1 liter of water or other fluid (milk or juice or other nonalcoholic, non caffeinated beverage )per person per day is plenty. Also here is my list for first aid kit: bandaids (lots of them in different sizes), tylenol, advil, bandages (lots of them in different sizes ), adhesive tape, an ace wrap, and some Tums.

swamprat on 8/5/2009 3:36pm

good list, mine is a little longer, I include a set of those thingy's that hold your eyeglasses on and put a cork in the middle, just in case. I also carry a chair to keep my butt off the sand or mud And a spare paddle which doubles a a pole to hold the tarp up.